It is this obvious truth which makes the second great division in the produce of wealth. You must, as we have seen, produce enough to keep labour going. That is, you must produce enough to satisfy the standard of subsistence in your society; _but you must also produce enough more to keep capital accumulating_. You must produce, over and above subsistence, whatever happens to be the amount of _profits_ for which capital will accumulate in any particular society (with us, to-day, it is about 5 per cent.). It is very important to observe that this second division, Profit, or Interest, must always be present, no matter how the capital is owned and controlled, no matter who gets the profit. Some people have thought that if you were to take capital away from the rich men who now own most of it and to give it to the politicians to manage for everybody, this division, Profit, would disappear. But it is not so. The people who were managing the capital for the benefit of everybody would have to tell the electors that they could not have all the wealth produced to consume as they chose: a certain amount would have to be kept back, and people would only consent to have a certain amount kept back on condition that they got an advantage in the future as a reward of their immediate sacrifice. Even if you had a Despot at the head of the State who cared nothing for people’s opinions, this division of profit would still be there; for it would be mere waste to accumulate capital at a heavy sacrifice to himself and his subjects, unless it produced a future reward. If the Despot said, “This year you must do without _half_ your usual amount of leisure and without _half_ your usual amounts, pay _double_ for your cinemas and for your beer, and all that in order to earn one hundredth more leisure and amusements next year,” it would be found intolerable. So it comes to this: There are always present in the process of production two agents, Capital and Labour, and each of these must have in one form or another its “Worth While,” otherwise it won’t go on. You must satisfy the “Worth While of Labour” and you must satisfy the “Worth While of Capital.” If you do not, labour stops working and capital stops accumulating, and the whole business of production breaks down. (Of course, we must be careful to distinguish between the case of a private man increasing his investments and the general increase of capital as applied to an unchanging area of natural forces. John Smith having £1,000 invested at 5 per cent. can save another £1,000 and another and many more, and still get 5 per cent. But that is because he is saving and makes up for others wasting, or because his saving is so small a proportion of the total Capital of Society that it has no appreciable effect. But if the total Capital of Society be thus increased the Law of Diminishing Returns eventually comes into play.) 3. RENT.